CS 7944 - Computational Narrative Seminar

Overview

The Spring 2019 offering of the Computational Narrative Seminar will primarily focus on reading and discussing papers published on topics related to Interactive Narrative, operationally defined as the narration that results from a player's influence on a sequence of events that constitute a trajectory through states of affairs. The selected papers will cover computational techniques from artificial intelligence and affine disciplines that advance a research agenda related to procedural interactive narrative generation.

Credit

This is a seminar-style course, which ultimately depends on in-class discussions. Students may enroll for one (1) credit. Although the University lists the course as “variable credit,” the two- and three-credit options are not currently available. Students enrolled in the course are expected to sign up to lead the discussion on one or more seminar meeting. Leading the discussion means:

Choosing a paper and e-mailing the instructors which paper they have chosen to present before 11:59pm (MT) on the Friday prior to that next week’s presentation,

Preparing and handing in a presentation (15-20 minutes) that summarizes the paper and its pertinent points (no later than the aforementioned Friday for the subsequent week’s presentation),

Familiarizing yourself enough with the paper to be able to answer questions that may come up, and

If no student volunteers to lead the discussion, the paper for the subsequent week will be assigned at some point the Saturday after the aforementioned Friday.

Students are expected to be present in the seminar. The instructor will call roll throughout the semester. You may have an unexcused absence for one of those roll calls without penalty. Further unexcused absences may result in a failing grade due to the compressed nature of the seminar schedule. If you decide to attend class, please be punctual. Entering the classroom late disrupts everyone engaged in classroom activities. Tardiness in excess of 15 minutes will be considered an absence.

Objectives

In this course, we will cover historical and state-of-the-art research projects that explore the automated generation and management of interactive narratives.

Expected Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course, you will be able to identify ongoing issues and debates surrounding the automated generation and management of interactive narratives.